A new youth center opens its doors in Sainte-Thérèse

While a new youth center opens its doors in Sainte-Thérèse, the union of employees of the Laval Youth Center denounces an injustice in the distribution of resources for young people in difficulty in the province.

Even if she is delighted for her colleagues in the Laurentians, the president of the Union of Workers of the CISSS of Laval-CSN, Nathalie Bourque, hoped that the situations denounced in the media concerning the Laval Youth Center would result in new government investments.

We denounce that things are not going well, that we must revamp the structures […] let’s take them out of a more prison environment… Nothing happensshe laments.

She even fears that the budget cuts that the government is requiring from Santé Québec will result in a reduction in services for its youth center, which is facing problems of dilapidation and labor shortages.

On the one hand, we are putting a lot of money into Santé Québec, but we are asking establishments to cut budgets, so we are not close to having anythingexplains Ms. Bourque.

According to the union representative, the government is responsible for several of the deplorable situations observed at the Laval Youth Center.

For us, the culprit is the government which reacts when situations arise. For years we have been denouncing a number of situations that could be improved by giving us the means and resources.

The Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, was present Monday at the inauguration of the new Rehabilitation Center for young people with adjustment difficulties in Thérèse-de-Blainville. According to him, this new center is the result of prioritization on the part of the CISSS of the Laurentians.

He is also counting on the provincial tour of the new national director of youth protection, Lesley Hill, to upgrade the twenty youth centers in Quebec.

What we want is to have a comparative idea of ​​rehabilitation centers between themhe said.

Lionel Carmant specifies that his ministry has an adequate annual budget to ensure this standardization of rehabilitation centers.

Closer to the spirit of the Laurent report

With its current design, mixing wood and glass, and its bright colors, the new rehabilitation center for young people with adjustment difficulties in Thérèse-de-Blainville is closer to the spirit of the Laurent report, which recommended an environment of living closer to the family home.

Families of young people aged 6 to 18 who attend it are invited to become more involved in their child’s rehabilitation, as the youth center is located in Sainte-Thérèse, closer to major centers. Its approximately 90 young residents come from the rehabilitation centers of Huberdeau and Saint-Jérôme, further north.

The isolation rooms of a few square meters still exist there, but are only used as a last resort, according to the deputy director of accommodation and rehabilitation of the DPJ Laurentides, Karine Blais. Staff on the floor would prioritize other options before removing a youth to a room.

It could be going to a release room, it could be going for a walk outside with an adultshe explains.

More suitable, lock-free withdrawal rooms can also be used before segregating a child or adolescent who represents a danger to themselves or others.

The center also has a section reserved for the education of just under two thirds of the young people who attend it, with classrooms and a library separated from the housing units, like a neighborhood school. It thus better responds to the needs expressed by former residents of youth centers consulted before its design.

Education was also at the heart of the Laurent report, which revealed in 2021 that a little more than 17% of residents of youth centers were on track to obtain a high school diploma before the age of 18, compared to 75% of young people in the general population.